3. - Schlösser-Magazin

Characteristics: Today the Bayreuth
Hermitage is largely restored to its mid-18thcentury
appearance; there are rudimentary
remains of the landscape garden, but they are
barely discernible; the estate as it looks today
is the result of the rebuildings and partial
reconstructions of the later 20th-century.
Topical Comparison
Summer residence: for the Margraves of
Bayreuth; from 1806 for the Bavarian Kings;
topographical significance of the main
axis is visible and unimpaired; most of the
outbuildings have survived.
Synthesis of gardening styles: Conversion into
a landscape garden took place rather timidly
and somewhat incompetently, and today
very little of it is left or visible; there is no
synthesis of gardening styles.
Furnishing: the numerous original Hermits’
Cottages built in the 18th-century have not
survived; the Parnassus giving access to the
Old Palace has been preserved, but its statuary
is lost; Ruined Theatre and Antique Tomb
preserved, Japanese “Salettl” (summerhouse)
only partly preserved; bark cottages.
Technical monuments: Water Tower I of 1718
using the natural gradient and a system of
interconnected pipes, Water Tower II of 1750
has a ”Druck- und Stangenwerk“ based on the
system of the Marly machine; the tower with
reservoirs is preserved, the machinery is not;
technical contraptions overhauled in the 19th
and 20th-centuries.
Authenticity: New Palace partially
reconstructed after heavy war damage,
Old Palace largely intact; numerous park
structures lost; from 1983 upper hedge
garden reconstructed; Chinese Pavilion
and “Schneckenberg” reconstructed c.2000;
original grottoes preserved.
Summary
There is a limited amount of comparability
between Schwetzingen and the Bayreuth
Hermitage. The time of their creation is
similar, but the pre-existing conditions, the
topography and the individual characteristics
3. Justification for Inscription
are quite different. A synthesis of gardening
styles barely came about at the Hermitage,
and those rather timid attempts at
landscaping that did materialize are almost
unrecognizable today. Of the original, very
rich and varied garden architecture only a part
survives.
Bibliography
Georg Hübsch: Der fürstliche Lustsitz Eremitage bei
Bayreuth in den Tagen seiner Vergangenheit. Kunst- und
kulturhistorische Skizzen aus den Quellen bearbeitet.
Bayreuth 1924.
Sylvia Habermann: Bayreuther Gartenkunst. Die Gärten
der Markgrafen von Brandenburg-Culmbach im 17. und
18. Jahrhundert (Grüne Reihe, vl. 6; also: Dissertation.,
Technische Universität München, 1980). Worms 1982.
Stefanie Gansera-Söffing: Das Alte Schloß der
Eremitage zu Bayreuth in der ersten Bauphase unter
Markgraf Georg Wilhelm (ca. 1715-1722). Ein Beitrag
zu Typus und Funktion der höfischen Eremitage im
frühen 18. Jahrhundert. In: Archiv für Geschichte von
Oberfranken, 70/1990, p. 435 – 449.
Erich Bachmann, Lorenz Seelig: Eremitage zu Bayreuth.
Amtlicher Führer der Bayerischen Verwaltung der
Staatlichen Schlösser, Gärten und Seen. München 1997, p.
99-106.
Ingo Toussaint (ed.): Lustgärten um Bayreuth. Eremitage,
Sanspareil und Fantasie in Beschreibungen aus dem 18.
und 19. Jahrhundert. Hildesheim 1998.
Helmut Haas: Das Alte Schloss der Bayreuther Eremitage
als Programm. In: Archiv für Geschichte von Oberfranken,
80/2000, p. 253-264.
Wilhelm Ruckdeschel: Die Wasserkünste der Eremitage bei
Bayreuth. In: Wasserhistorische Forschungen: Schwerpunkt
Montanbereich; in memoriam Dr.-Ing. Martin Schmidt
(Schriften der Deutschen Wasserhistorischen Gesellschaft,
3). Siegburg 2003, p. 175-195.
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